Esperanto

In 1998 after having heard about how wonderful Esperanto was, and particular
how easy it was to learn, I decided to find out if these claims were true.
I started learning it with Teach Yourself Esperanto and later
found the lernu! website, which has
some very good courses, including a whole novel in Esperanto,
Gerda malaperis
(Gerda disappeared), which I've read.

Esperanto is indeed quite easy to learn, especially if you already know
English and/or a Romance, Germanic or Slavic language. Some aspects of
the language, such as the accusative case and some of the sounds, and
might be tricky for some, but aren't nearly as challenging as the grammar
and sounds of other languages.

I've learnt enough Esperanto to be able to read it and to understand,
speak and write it to some extent. I've met a few Esperantists and have
chatted to people in Esperanto on Skype and MSN, but haven't had more than a
simple spoken conversation.